Looking back on 2021, ‘Star Trek’-style
MEMBER COLUMN
Editor’s note: Steve Martinez of Mutual 9 wrote this holiday piece with a creative “Star Trek” theme for friends and family, while reflecting back on 2021 and to some extent, 2020 during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. References include the series’ “Way to Eden” (original Season 3), “Voyage Home” (“Star Trek IV” movie), “Final Frontier” (“Star Trek V” movie) and “Deadly Years” (original Season 2).
by Steve Martinez
LW contributor
“Space: the final frontier— these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!”
Stardate: 123120.21 Destination: Planet Earth We saw incredible voyages push the boundaries of space exploration, such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, along with newly minted astronauts.
We wondered whether we’d take a flight, if given a chance at one of those limited spots. For the moment, we continued to explore strange new worlds—worlds of mask wearing, temperature checking, hand washing, virus testing, endless sanitizing, social distancing, teleworking, Zoom calling and livestreaming. The strangeness came with some offenses. We’ve not yet issued our report but hope our clients will be a good sport. We couldn’t revisit London, Brussels, Bilbao or Montreal, yet managed trips to Palm Springs, Lake Tahoe and St. Paul. We didn’t lose weight but wish we had.
We didn’t win at Powerball but continue to play in hopes of a windfall. We weren’t offered a position in spring but are excited to see what the extra time will bring.
“We prefer to keep ourselves. We make mistakes, but we’re human— and maybe that’s the word that best explains us.”
—Captain James T. Kirk With engines operating at warp speed, we made our way to Eden, where:
• lovers kissed with bliss into the night under a bright crescent moon
• family and friends had tacos on Tuesday without a fork or a knife
• neighbors shared chocolate chip cookies paired with milk in a glass
• athletes lifted weights in Clubhouse 6 to build lean muscle tissue
• prayer warriors filed into sacred spaces for a touch from the Lord
• others bought new trucks from companies like Lincoln and Toyota On our voyage home, time Tiktoks. Looking through the time capsule, we note more time behind us than ahead. We ponder: Who will offer love and care, and for whom will we care and love? What does the future hold for earth’s conditions, acceptance of differences and peaceful coexistences? Where do new adventures lie? Reflect. Love. Live. Laugh. Go. Be the authentic you.
“Change is the essential process of all existence.” –Spock In the Final Frontier, we stop to remember those we have lost to illness, accident, hatred, suicide, hunger and otherwise. The uncountable that have journeyed to unknown worlds. Their names may not be familiar to many, yet they are dear to us. These past two years have been the Deadly Years.
“Compassion: that’s the one thing no machine ever had. Maybe it’s the one thing that keeps men ahead of them.” —Dr. McCoy Live long and prosper.
